Blockchain and Smart Contracts

Author: Cory Campbell

Blockchain ranked as the #1 most “in-demand hard skill” on Linked in for 2020. Although this distributed ledger technology is still in its infancy, blockchain has great potential for market disruption because of the methodologies it uses to authenticate and record transactions. Embedding self-executing code into permissioned blockchain systems provides a whole new landscape to image what is possible through blockchain technology. Real estate, land, and automobile titles, digital voting, expediting energy futures trading, tax regulation and compliance, tracking assets or even the tracking of prescription drugs can be reimagined because of the power of blockchain technology.

Publication Date: October 2021

Designed For
Professionals in public practice, business, government, and education who wish to be knowledgeable about blockchain-enabled environments.

Topics Covered

• What is blockchain? When is it applicable to use?
• What are crypto assets versus digital assets?
• What are smart contracts and how do they function within a blockchain-enabled environment?
• What are the risks and opportunities with smart contracts?

Learning Objectives

• Describe the fundamental characteristics of blockchain technology
• Differentiate between types of blockchains and the associated potential use cases
• Recognize how to evaluate different risk factors that may be introduced by including smart contracts in a blockchain-enabled environment
• Recognize problems of building a trust in a system relates to finality
• Describe elements of a contract
• Identify a computer script with a predefined set of rules
• Recognize what relates to the fact that all the blocks in a chain must agree on the transactions validity
• Identify one of the potential benefits of blockchain

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Information Technology (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Basic understanding of accounting and audit standards.

Advance Preparation
None